Davison made a poignant visit to the Longford Country Club Hotel, nearby to the Symmons Plains Circuit, ahead of this weekend’s Tasmania SuperSprint.
A landmark on the famed Longford road course that hosted world motorsport’s biggest stars in the 1960s, the hotel features the Lex Davison Bar, named in honour of Will’s grandfather.
A four-time Australian Grand Prix winner, Lex Davison died after suffering a heart attack while competing at Melbourne’s Sandown Raceway in 1965.
“The enormity of being here never gets lost on me,” said Davison upon his visit to the hotel.
“I’ve been coming here for nearly 20 years now, but the meaning of it gets stronger and stronger.
“Being a new father myself, a new generation of Davison, I sort of think back to what my father did for me and what his father meant to him.
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“It’s so unchanged here in so many ways, so the imagination grows wilder and wilder every year for me to think back to the legends that raced here, and the tales that this town tells are just absolutely incredible.
“Particularly with my Dad (Richard) being here this year, we’ll go and reminisce on parts of the circuit and just feel that family history and what’s taken place over such a long period of time now.”
The Longford pub’s most famous story belongs to Lex, who crashed into the side of the facility while competing on the circuit in 1962.
“I was looking out on the road there, and I can picture in my mind his Cooper-Climax coming over the rise, hard on the brakes in front of the pub, how light the cars would have been on those tyres,” said Davison.
“He explained that he got unsettled under brakes, had a big lose into the pub and thought, ‘Wow, how have I walked out of this thing? I’m going to go and order myself a brandy!’
“The only down part of it was that he got charged for (the brandy). So hopefully that doesn’t happen to me coming here Sunday night!”
The Longford Circuit also holds a sad place in the Davison story.
A week after Lex’s death at Sandown, his protege, Rocky Tresise, was killed while competing at the Tasmanian circuit.
The Davison racing team was subsequently shut down as Lex’s widow, Diana, tried to pick up the pieces.
Although the tragedies had a profound effect, the racing bug lingered and eventually Lex’s sons and then grandsons took to the track.
The birth of Will and wife Riana’s first child, Dash, last year begs the question as to whether Australian motorsport will also feature a fourth generation of racing Davison.
“For as long as I can remember, I’ve obsessed over race cars, steering wheels, going fast, and that’s been a beautiful thing we’ve shared as a family,” said Davison.
“So you can only wish that you’d share something similar for your son.
“I would not be pushing motorsport on him, but I’m not helping my case running him around, making racecar noises around the house every day!
“He’ll be here in Symmons Plains this weekend, so hopefully we’ll get him down here to the Longford pub, just to get the fourth-gen a part of it.”
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